carmen menza: patterns of disturbance
November 2, 2024 - December 7, 2024
Press Release
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(Dallas) Ro2 Art is proud to present Patterns of Disturbance, an immersive exhibition by Dallas-based interdisciplinary artist Carmen Menza. Known for her explorations of perceptual phenomena, Menza’s newest body of work delves into themes of reflection, disquiet, and hope through light-based installations and neon text statements. In Patterns of Disturbance, Menza harnesses light not just as a medium but as an active force, using materials like neon, LED lights, glass, resin, and mirrors to alter the viewer’s sensory experience. Her use of optical illusions and textural elements such as reflective surfaces invites viewers to become part of the work, challenging their perceptions of space, time, and the self.
This exhibition continues Menza’s fascination with the properties of light and language, examining how words shape our human connections, particularly in the context of current political and social climates. Through text-based works, she navigates fundamental human rights and presents cautionary statements that resonate with today’s environment. Employing techniques like heat-gun manipulation to melt and transform materials, Menza’s process embraces chance occurrence, resulting in an ephemeral quality that underscores the fleeting nature of existence. As viewers engage with these light-activated pieces, they encounter an interplay of disturbance and beauty, a reflection of Menza’s acknowledgment of the ‘dimming of hope’ in recent years and the resistance required to preserve freedoms in an increasingly fragmented world. Opening November 2, 2024, Patterns of Disturbance will be on view through December 7, at Ro2 Art Gallery, 2606 Bataan St., Dallas, TX, with an opening reception from 7 to 10 PM. Press Release |
About the Artist
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Carmen Menza is an interdisciplinary artist creating fine art and technology based installations utilizing light, video, interactive software, music composition and sound design. Her work explores themes of time, space, color, perception and human connection. Her installations have
been created for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Dallas, TX, the city of Dallas, TX, the city of Manassas, VA, the McKinney Avenue Contemporary Museum, Dallas, TX, Meow Wolf, Grapevine, TX, Dallas Aurora Light & Sound Festival, UTSW Clements University Hospital, Dallas, TX, Carneal Simmons Contemporary Art, Dallas, TX and more. Her films have screened at the Dallas International Film Festival, Dallas Video Festival, Austin Film Festival and the KERA Public television show - Frame of Mind. She is a TACA New Works Fund Grant recipient, a Dallas Office of Arts and Culture - Arts Activate Grant recipient, a Cedars Union Artist Residency recipient and a Virginia Commission for the Arts, Project Grant New Works recipient. She is a founding member of Texas Vignette, a non-profit organization that promotes the arts by providing support, education and producing the annual Vignette Art Fair, showing and amplifying the work of women artists throughout Texas. She has served as a juror for the Artist Residency Fund Grant and the New Works Fund through The Arts Community Alliance (TACA) Grants, Dallas, TX, as a Public Art Committee member for the City of Mesquite, Mesquite, TX, and since its inception in 2007 to be a part of the efforts of the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center in raising funds through their annual Art for Advocacy event. Artist talks include the Amon Carter Museum, Ft. Worth, TX, Carneal Simmons Contemporary Art, Dallas, TX, The Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Dallas, TX, Wade College, Dallas, TX and the Cedars Union, Dallas, TX. She received her BFA in jazz guitar performance from the University of North Texas. |
show statement
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In her newest exhibition, Menza explores themes of perception, reflection, disquiet, and hope through neon text-based statements and light-based works.
As an interdisciplinary artist who creates works focusing on perceptual phenomena and reflectivity, her interest lies in altering the physical and sensory experience of space with physical illusions and the idea that light itself can serve as both subject and material in art. “When viewing optical art we try to make sense of what we are seeing but our eyes are sending contradictory information to our brains through patterns of disturbance. It is in these patterns of disturbance that I find myself continually exploring materials and the properties of light.” Menza also has an interest in the role of language and dialogue and how words form our perception in human connections. In her text-based work, she presents statements on fundamental human rights and cautionary text that illuminates the ways we are experiencing current political and social environments. Reflective surfaces provide the viewer an opportunity to become a part of the work by seeing themselves in it. The shifting environmental conditions implicate time as a material and highlight the ephemeral qualities of life. The materials used in her work include glass, neon, LED lights, resin, mirrors, prisms, solder, and cast acrylic. Her working methods embrace chance occurrence and include actions such as using a heat gun to melt and transform the materials into something unexpected. Whether by directing the flow of natural light, embedding artificial light within objects, using video projections, or playing with light through the use of transparent, translucent, and reflective films, the experience and materialization of light are the focus of her work. “In the past few years, I have felt a dimming of hope. Hope for things that are important to me like women’s self-determination. With diminishing rights of women and girls throughout the world, I consider the resistance that it requires to defend freedoms in a world often marked by fragmentation. But still, I acknowledge the persistent beauty found in everyday life and perhaps the disquiet only amplifies the beautiful. The words of Walt Whitman in his Inscriptions to the States from Leaves of Grass give me hope. Resist Much, Obey Little.” |
